On June 8, Delta Cargo accepted Oriole, a male
guinea pig for transport from Charlotte, North
Carolina to Portland, Oregon. All documents
were reviewed and processed.
DL2152 departed Charlotte approximately 36
minutes behind its scheduled time of 1402. On
acceptance of the guinea pig, agents at CLT
stated the animal appeared well. The
temperature at the time of departure from CLT
ranged between 73°F and 75°F with overcast
skies.
Flight 2152 arrived in ATL at 1526 and the
temperature was approximately 82°F with
mostly cloudy skies. On arrival, the ramp

Description of Incident: handling crew unloaded the animal and placed
him inside an air conditioned transport van at
approximately 1540. Oriole was then delivered
to our animal holding room until it was time for
his next assigned flight. At approximately
1658, the van driver retrieved Oriole from the
animal holding room and after making multiple
stops to drop off other animals inside the van,
they delivered Oriole to gate B36. He was
scheduled to travel on DL887 which had a
departure time of 1755. The van driver
reported no signs of distress.

As the ramp agents were preparing to load
Oriole on the DL887 they noticed he was not
moving. They immediately contacted asupervisor who arrived at B36 to confirm that

the animal appeared deceased.
We contacted our local veterinary hospital,
Briarcliff Animal Clinic for assistance. The
owner was also contacted and we awaited his
instructions and authorization to perform a
necropsy.
Doctors at the University of Georgia, Athens
Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory suggest the
Cause of Incident animal died of pneumonia. The report states
“inflammation noted in the lung tissue played a
contributory role in the death.”
Corrective Action Taken: None Warranted